For 80 per cent young adults, oral sex is not sex

Most of the young adults in the US think that oral sex is not really sex, according to a 2007 survey of undergraduate college students.

While majority of youngsters agree penile-vaginal intercourse is sex, less than one in five think that oral-genital contact counts as "having sex," revealed the survey.

 

The attitude toward oral sex represents a dramatic and sudden shift in thinking since 1991, when a similar survey found that nearly twice as many young adults (about 40 percent) would classify oral-genital contact as sex.

Pointing to former President Clinton's infamous statement, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," as the pivotal turning point in society's changing views about oral sex, researchers dubbed this attitude shift as the "Clinton-Lewinsky" effect.

"Like President Clinton, adolescents and young adults often interpret these words with a degree of latitude, depending on whether they want to maintain an image of being sexually experienced or inexperienced," CBS News quoted Jason D. Hans and colleagues at the University of Kentucky, Lexington as saying.

The authors said that a surge in abstinence-only education and sex education programs that focus primarily on vaginal-penile intercourse also may play a role in the disassociation of oral-genital stimulation from sex.

The survey involved 477 undergraduate students, mostly white heterosexual females, enrolled in a human sexuality class.

The survey found that only 20 percent of those surveyed said oral contact with their partner's genitals would constitute sex.

Less than 80 percent of participants considered penile-anal intercourse as sex.

Males were much more likely than females to say sex included the following behaviours -- their partner touched their genitals, orally stimulating a partner's breasts or nipples, touching a partner's breast or nipples.

Married men don't regret cheating on their wives: Study

When infidelity strikes a marriage, it breaks hearts. But a new study has found that most of the divorced guys don't regret cheating.

In a survey, 77 percent told Men's Health magazine that they didn't regret cheating, and 81 percent preferred their new sex lives.

The lack of regret suggests that the cheating wasn't what really ended their relationships with their ex-wives," said Men's Health editor David Zinczenko.

"Infidelity is more of a symptom of larger issues. For that reason, when the marriage ends, there''s some relief on the part of the guy. When infidelity strikes a marriage, but the couple [nevertheless] stays together and works out their issues, that's when remorse sets in, ''Oh, I could have solved this problem in a different way'," the New York Post quoted him as saying.

47 percent of the 275 surveyed said their No. 1 reason for straying was that they no longer felt that their better halves even found them attractive blaming the woman for cheating.

Other reasons included boredom (41 percent); a need to escape (38 percent); and the other woman was just "too hot" to resist (17 percent).

It's official: Men look at women's breasts first

Women often say that men tend to ogle at their breasts and their face is the last thing they notice, and now a scientific study has found evidence to prove them right.

Scientists have found that almost half - 47 per cent - of men first glance at a woman's breasts.

A third of the "first fixations" are on the waist and hips, while fewer than 20 per cent look at the woman's face, reports the Daily Mail in UK.

In fact, breasts are not only the first thing men look at, they also glance at them for longer than any other body part, revealed experts.

Many believe that the reason behind such male tendency could be evolutionary, as women with larger chests and slim waists - such as Jennifer Hawkins, Lara Bingle and Rachael Finch - have higher levels of the female hormone oestrogen, indicating greater fertility.

But the researchers conceded that there could be a more prosaic explanation.

"Men may be looking more often at the breasts because they are simply aesthetically pleasing, regardless of the size," the Daily Telegraph quoted them as saying.

Subjects tested by researchers from New Zealand's University of Wellington were presented with six images of the same woman, digitally altered to increase or decrease the size of her bust, waist and hips.

The scientists recorded which areas men looked at first, the number of times they looked, and how long their gaze lasted, using cameras and mirrors to measure tiny eye movements.

"Eighty per cent of first fixations were on the breasts and midriff. Men spent consistently more time looking at the breasts and also made significantly more fixations upon them than other regions," the study concluded.

It also found that men began to gaze at the "components of the hourglass figure" within 0.2 seconds.

An orgasm a day keeps illnesses away

Women who regularly have orgasms are more energetic and suffer fewer illnesses than females who are left wanting more after sex sessions, says a new research.

According to a team from the Women''s Health programme in Australia, females who rate their sex lives highly have more vitality and a better psychological outlook than those who have sex less than twice a month.

Researchers analysed sex lives of almost 300 females aged from 20 to 65 to reach the conclusion.

Lead researcher Dr Sonia Davison, of the Women''s Health Program at Monash University, Australia, said: "We found that women who were sexually dissatisfied had lower well-being and vitality.

"This finding highlights the importance of addressing these areas as an essential part of healthcare, because women may be uncomfortable discussing these issues with their doctor."

As over 90 percent of women in the study reported their sexual activity involved a partner, and was initiated by the partner at least 50 percent of the time, the sexual activity of the women may have been affected by partner presence (or absence), partner health, and sexual function, which were not addressed in the study.

"The fact that women who self-identified as being dissatisfied maintained the level of sexual activity reported most likely represents established behaviour and partner expectation," said Professor Susan Davis, senior author of this study, also based at the Women''s Health Program at Monash University, Australia.

"It also reinforces the fact that frequency of sexual activity in women cannot be employed as a reliable indicator of sexual well-being," the expert added.

Sexual medicine expert Dr Irwin Goldstein said: "This emphasises the role and importance of sexual health in women''s overall health and well-being."

Women's tears 'kill sexual arousal in men'

They say tears are woman's best arsenal -- and they probably are -- for they are powerful enough to dampen a man's sexual arousal, according to a new study.

According to Noam Sobel, a cognitive neuroscientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, tears contain chemical signals that decrease sexual arousal and testosterone levels in men, reports Nature.

In the study, men were asked to sniff vials containing either the women's tears or saline that had been applied to their cheeks.

Results showed that men who sniffed the tears perceived those women as sexually less attractive than did men who sniffed saline.

And men who took a whiff of tears (and not saline) reported a decrease in sexual arousal. These men also reported reduced activity in the areas of brain that are associated with sexual arousal, such as the hypothalamus.

"I think the study has used sound methodology and the results indeed are fascinating. But as far as I know, there is no clear logical, theoretical or empirical justification to design a study on the effects of tears on sex," Nature quoted Ad Vingerhoets, who studies emotion at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, as saying.

Interestingly, on the other hand, tears are considered to heighten empathy and induce caring behaviour, and they act as sexual attractants in mice but decrease sexual arousal in humans.

Denise Chen, who studies human olfaction at Rice University in Houston, Texas, said that to explore whether tears evoked by different emotions have different effects, the researchers should also perform experiments in which they elicit happy weeping, or neutral tears caused by allergens or irritants such as onions.

She concluded, "overall, as a first study, it's very exciting and it suddenly opens the door for a lot more studies in the future".

Men reach orgasm after vaginal intercourse while women with oral sex

Men are more likely to orgasm when sex includes vaginal intercourse and women are more likely to orgasm when they engage in a variety of sex acts, a new study has revealed.

Findings from the study of sexual and sexual-health behaviours conducted by Indiana University has provided an updated and much needed snapshot of contemporary Americans'' sexual behaviours, including a description of more than 40 combinations of sexual acts that people perform during sexual events, patterns of condom use by adolescents and adults, and the percentage of Americans participating in same-sex encounters.

The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behaviour (NSSHB) is one of the most comprehensive studies on these topics in almost two decades and documents the sexual experiences and condom-use behaviours of 5,865 adolescents and adults ages 14 to 94.

        

According to the study's findings, one of four acts of vaginal intercourse are condom protected in the U.S. (one in three among singles).

 "These data about sexual behaviours and condom use in contemporary America are critically needed by medical and public health professionals who are on the front lines addressing issues such as HIV, sexually transmissible infections and unintended pregnancy," said Michael Reece of the Centre for Sexual Health Promotion.

Debby Herbenick, of the CSHP said Herbenick said: "Findings show that condoms are used twice as often with casual sexual partners as with relationship partners, a trend that is consistent for both men and women across age groups that span 50 years."

The report has also suggested that adults using a condom for intercourse were just as likely to rate the sexual extent positively in terms of arousal, pleasure and orgasm than when having intercourse without one.

Many older adults continue to have active pleasurable sex lives, reporting a range of different behaviours and partner types, however adults over the age of 40 have the lowest rates of condom use. Although these individuals may not be as concerned about pregnancy, this suggests the need to enhance education efforts for older individuals regarding STI risks and prevention.

The findings were published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Via : mid-day.com